Welcome to Fiction Forge Indy! We are a group of four writers in Indianapolis that love to talk about anything that has to do with writing. We all met at the Indiana Writers Center and come from four very different backgrounds with interests in Fantasy, Mystery, Humor, Romance, and Historical Fiction. Prepare to be informed and entertained! Oh --and by the way, we hope you share your thoughts on the craft of writing, too.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Useful Idiot

There is a term that was coined by Vladimir Lenin during the early days of the Cold War. In Russian, it goes something like this, "polyezniy idiot". That translates into "useful idiot" and the phrase was used to describe clueless westerners who blindly followed the Communist ideology. Stalin took up the phrase though with a more sinister connotation.

Every antagonist needs a useful idiot or two to help them towards their goals. In comic books and superhero flicks, they are called minions. In fantasy novels, these sort of people are called lackeys or henchmen. I believe they are called thugs in crime novels. They help move the story along by performing menial tasks (usually off stage) such as readying the horses or spying on the protagonist. This frees the antagonist to do things that actually matter to the plot of the story. In short, these ancillary characters are but tools for the main characters.

Sometimes, however, these secondary characters get thrust into higher stations in the story. Whether through the machinations of a villainous plot or jus from sheer stupid luck, these characters find themselves in positions of control and/or power. Now, as is usually the case, these characters are not usually up to the task of their new position thus creating tension and drama in the narrative. For instance, perhaps the antagonist will exploit the incompetence of the character to make gains where he or she would not have been able to with a more adept opponent. Or, perhaps the anatagonist will have to doe nothing at all and simply,let the newly risen lackey create his own destruction.

It is possible, of course, that the minion need not fail. The character could actually rise to the occasion and prove themselves to the collective populace of the story. This in itself creates drama and is a theme that has been used ad naseum in recent years ( pick any YA novel as an example of this).

As a reader, one always hopes for this. Yet, in the end, we are at the mercy of the circumstances that brought the hapless character to his undeserved elevation. All we can do is read on and hope that our former jester can move beyond himself and the forces seeking to control him.

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Heather McGrail

Heather

Heather spent much of her life in school, teaching, and traveling--generally investing lots of experiences about which to write. Now, she is settled into the quiet, Midwest with a boring office job to write about her experiences. Too bad her current experiences are great writing material, too!

Heather has been active in this blog and the Indiana Writers' Center for many years. Yeah for great writers and great support for writers in the community!

Mike Moir

Mike

Hi. My name is Michael Moir and I'm a writer.

I don't know when I became addicted to the printed word, but over time I have found that I can't put it away from me. My therapist says it has to do with the little yellow books that were forced upon me in Kindergarten (See Spot Run...Run, Spot, Run! RUN!!!), but in the depth of my soul, I know it is deeper than that. I was born with this in my very DNA. Phrasing, grammar, and plot structure are as sure in my being as cytosine is to guanine. It is a dark and wildly fantastic creature that gires and gimbles in the shadowed places of my soul. I have been told that I must find a way to purge the wordful animal within (my therapist recommended me to a witch doctor in the Andes), but I have decided to learn to live with it. This desire, this compulsion, this demon that is writing is me and I am it.

I call him Steve.

Randall Scott Wireman

Randy

Hi! I am Randy. I'm pretty sure that I started writing when I held my first crayola. Unfortunately, I grabbed the white one which left little proof of my brilliant earlier works! I write fiction that's often centered on gay characters - but sometimes off-centered gay characters, too -Ha! Because of the poor recording or admittance of such affairs due to prevailing political and religious views, such historical possibilities of gay relations are difficult to accept, let alone imagine. But, of course gay relations occurred, and much more often than the historical records dictate. I like to give honor to my gay brothers and sisters of our hushed past by conjuring such situation backdrops of history and breathing life into what I cannot know really occurred, but what I feel is closer to reality than it is to fiction.

Nick Dyakanoff

Nick

Nick Dyakanoff recently started writing and exploring the world of workshops and blogs with our strange group. He tells lots of amazing stories from growing up in Alaska, working on different ships, exploring the music industry, and settling into Midwestern life.

Writing has become a new way to share these stories. He looks forward to sharing more of his stories on this blog.